Her Light In Darkness
by Azar Renoir
Summary: All her life Regina Mills had only wanted to feel happiness, not just any happiness but true happiness. Her adopted son, Henry became her light, her happiness. ((ONESHOT. Not good with summarys but enjoy! - ))


"Mommy?" Asked a young boy no older than 4 years old to his mother, Regina Mills who was currently working on decorating her office a little with some new black silk curtains that she recently brought due to some juice spills that had somehow gotten on them the last time her child came to her office with her, "Yes, Henry? What is it?" She looked at the boy sitting on the floor coloring in his coloring book.

"Where is daddy?" He asked innocently gazing at her with curiously.

Regina froze, she wasn't expecting that kind of question from him until he was older. You see, Regina Mills had adopted this little boy in her office when he was only a few weeks old and since it was a closed adoption she didn't know who his birth mother or father were.

She thought for awhile for an answer to give to him but she couldn't think of a name or exactly what to tell him. How do you tell your son you've raised ever since he was a newborn that he was adopted or who his birth father was? She knew that she couldn't pass the sheriff, Graham as his birth father because it wasn't fair for neither Graham nor Henry.

"Mommy?"

Regaining her composure she walked over to her son then bent down to his level, "I don't know Henry, I dont know who your father is" She forced a smile, "Let's just say that I'm both your mother and father, alright my little prince?"

"Did he die?" He asked suddenly causing Regina's eyes to widen, "No, no Henry I can assure you that your father isn't dead" She stuttered quickly before turning away to spare her dignity.

"Okay" Henry said before turning back to her coloring book.

Regina put a hand over her forehead and signed gently to herself while turning back to fix the curtans.

She expected him to ask her one day about his father, but she didn't expect it so soon.

She knew from the very moment she laid her eyes on him on that fateful day where she first adopted him he would eventually start asking her such questions that she didn't know the answer to.

But why did it have to matter? Henry was _her son. Her child._ It didn't mattered that he wasn't her flesh and blood, he was still hers. And no one could ever take that away from her.

Not unless..

They wanted to suffer the wrath of the evil queen everyone in Storybrooke once and still fear despite not having any memory of their lives in the enchanted forest.

To Regina, Henry meant everything.

He was the light in her life guiding her away from darkness. The dark deeds she once did in her past. He was the one who brought her the happiness she always wanted to have.

He took away the loneliness she felt for many years since her first love was murdered right before her eyes to becoming King Leopold's queen and watching him continuously doting on that wretched Snow White leaving her on the outskirts always watching as if she meant nothing to them or the kingdom, all those years she spent looking for Snow White to get her revenge and killing many innocent people along the way while her heart ached for someone to love and love her back for the way she was, someone to look at her the way he once did.

All her life, Regina only wanted to have one thing.

And that thing was to be able to feel happiness like the ones around her did growing up, to see her mother look at her as if she brought her happiness and her father, she had only seen pity, nobody could ever understand that all she ever wanted was to feel how happiness felt like, but just not any happiness.

No, she desired _true happiness._ The happiness that Henry had brought into her life.

Yes they have their hard times every now and then but he was her light.

And she was darkness.

They belonged together as mother and son.

.

A few years had past since Henry asked Regina about his father, he was now in school, and his teacher was no one other than Mary Margaret, Snow White.

Mary Margaret was the first to notice how lonely Henry truly was, she didn't know how his life outside of school was truly like, but being the mayor's son she assumed before he was happy. But now in her class, he wasn't.

One day while cleaning out her closet she came across a rather large and wide book titled 'Once Upon A Time' on the cover, weeks went by she spent reading the book from page to page. That's when she realized what Henry, the boy in her class truly needed.

All Henry Mills needed was hope. He needed to believe there was hope in his life.

So the very next day she presented to him the hard cover book and as she turned away to look back at him for a smile, she noticed a sparkle of hope in his eyes.

.

As time went on Regina began to realize how Henry slowly started to distance himself from her, this greatly worried her. She had tried many times to get him to talk to her but it never worked.

It had gone up to the point where she turned to Archie to start having weekly sessions with her son to get him to start talking. After the first session, Henry snapped at her and told her that she the one who needed help because she was the evil queen.

Regina, at first was shocked. Never once did she ever think that her beloved son, her light in darkness, would ever say such things to her.

After the first couple weeks Henry started talking to Archie. telling him all about how everyone in Storybrooke were fairy tale characters

Things between Regina and Henry started to get rocky, he would wake up, go to school and go to who knows where for hours until dinner or to avoid going to see Archie for their weekly sessions up to the point where Regina sent Sydney to follow the boy to see where he always ran off to.

That's when Regina found out from Sydney that Henry, deep down had felt the cold feeling of loneliness. She found out that her beloved son, didn't have as much friends as he said he had.

Her son, her sweet prince..

lived his days suffering from he loneliness that she had once felt as her remaning years as Regina, the once feared queen of the enchanted forest.

She didn't know what to do, or who to turn to.

So she acted out in desperation to heal her little boy, she tried to make him feel better, she tried to believe his theories knowing that they once truly happened and were indeed the people of Storybrooke trapped from the curse she had created. Little did Regina know, that she was trying too hard.

A few more years had past and Regina had given up on her son, he was far in his imagination to tell the difference between reality and his beliefs. She had tried too hard to save her son from the dreadful loneliness that one day Regina learned that Henry didn't go to school when she seen him walk out of the house earlier that morning, he skipped his evening session with Archie, and finally came home later that night with someone Regina never thought she would ever have to meet.

Henry's birth mother.

Regina knew that she had to protect what was hers, so many times she had tried to get rid of Emma without Henry knowing.

But as fate would have it, Emma remained in Storybrooke.

But whatever she did, Emma would always overcome it, to framing her by getting Archie to lie about Emma stealing Henry's files, to killing Graham after the kiss Emma shared with him, and to many other things she did.

It drove Regina insane to keep her son away from her.

But after Emma had broken her curse, after Henry was taken by Peter Pan and almost killed, then Regina began to feel thankful for the blond savior but she still felt like she was slowly losing her son to her.

Regina then realized how happy she made her son feel, she could see it in his eyes that he was happy again. But despite all of her attempts in the past, he never smiled as brightly as he did now with Emma around. Their bond together as biological mother and son seemed stronger than her bond with her son.

What they had.. was something stronger

It was like they had a bond that he and her would never share.

That was until Henry had come up to her one evening while she was at home.

"Mom?"

Regina turned around, "Yes Henry?"

Henry walked over to her, "Mom I just wanted to say that, I'm sorry"

Regina's smile faded, "Sorry? For what?"

"Well you know, after everything that's been happening ever since.. I brought Emma, my birth mother here to Storybrooke, we haven't.. spent too much time together" He started, "All those years, I believed that you were nothing but the evil queen I read in those stories, but now I see that you're really trying to change, all this time I spent hating you for something you did in your past, when I should've realized that you aren't the same from the evil queen"

Regina placed a hand over her son's shoulder and smiled, "Henry, it's okay, you don't have to apologize"

"M-mom, I'm sorry, I'm just so sorry I treated you like that, if I had really opened my eyes I would've seen the good in you like I do now! You've turned tjings around, you've stopped using magic, all because of me!" Regina noticed Henry was about to cry so she wrapped her arms around him.

"I know, I'm sorry that I pushed you away instead of really trying to understand what you were going through after telling you that you were adopted, how you felt so alone in the world so you found your birth mother" Regina could feel a tear streaking down her cheek, "I've always loved you Henry, I've never stopped nor will I ever will, you're my little prince, my baby, I could never hate you for what you've did or how I made you felt like"

Before they knew it, both mother and son cried into each other's arms for a good while before Henry had fallen asleep after calming down. Regina then carried him upstairs to his bedroom where she laid him down and tucked him in before placing a kiss on his cheek.

He would always be her light,

She would always be darkness struggling to find light,

They loved each other as mother and son,

And nothing too big or too strong could ever truly separate them.


End file.
